Stat Shots: Bucs-Falcons

A closer look inside the statistics from Tampa Bay's game against Atlanta and the season to date, including a variety of milestones for Vincent Jackson

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers fell to the Atlanta Falcons, 31-23, in the Georgia Dome on Sunday, a contest that included a second consecutive two-touchdown day for WR Vincent Jackson. Here are some of the more notable statistics and milestones from Sunday's game:

The 59-yard touchdown pass from Mike Glennon to Vincent Jackson in the second quarter of Sunday's game was the longest of the season so far for the Buccaneers. It was Jackson's fourth reception of at least 50 yards since he joined the Buccaneers in 2012, but the first that went for a touchdown. The play tied for the second-longest completion ever recorded by a Buccaneer rookie passer, and has that spot all alone if one chooses not to include a play made by future Hall-of-Famer Steve Young in 1985, Young's first NFL season but his third as a pro after two years in the USFL. The top five, with Young included:

Completion

Season

Opp./Date

1. Shaun King, 68 yards to Warrick Dunn

1999

vs. DET, 12/12/99

3t. Mike Glennon, 59 yards (TD) to Vincent Jackson

2013

at ATL, 10/20/13

3t. Steve Young, 59 yards to Kevin House

1985

vs. IND, 12/15/85

4t. Doug Williams, 53 yards to Morris Owens

1978

at GB, 10/29/78

4t. Bruce Gradkowski, 53 yards to Joey Galloway

2006

at DAL, 11/23/06

Glennon tossed that TD pass to Jackson in his third career start, and the Buccaneers have not been shy about letting their rookie passer fling the ball all over the yard. Glennon has thrown at least 43 passes and completed at least 24 of them in each of his three starts so far. In fact, his 130 attempts and 76 completions are the most a rookie quarterback has ever compiled over his first three starts, in the entire history of the NFL.

-- WR Vincent Jackson has 4 TD catches in the Bucs' last two games

Glennon would later throw a much shorter TD pass to Jackson, the shortest one possible in fact (at least statistically), a one-yarder in the third quarter. That gave Jackson his second outing with two TD receptions in as many games and made him just the second Buccaneer ever to do that in consecutive games. Horace Copeland did it first on Oct. 24, 1993 against Green Bay and on Oct. 31, 1993, coincidentally at Atlanta. Jackson is the first Buccaneer to have two games in the same season with multiple touchdown receptions since WR Joey Galloway in 2005.

Jackson matched his single-game career high with 10 catches for 138 yards on Sunday against the Falcons. That comes one week after he hauled in nine passes for 114 yards and two touchdowns against Philadelphia. He is the first Buccaneer to record consecutive 100-yard games since Antonio Bryant (Dec. 14, 2008 at Atlanta and Dec. 21, 2008 vs. San Diego). He is the first Buccaneer player to have at least nine receptions in two straight games in nearly three decades, since RB James Wilder did it against the Rams and the Packers on Nov. 25 and Dec. 2, 1984. Wilder also pulled off the feat against the Jets and the Bills on Dec. 12 and Dec. 19, 1982, but Jackson is the first Buccaneer wide receiver ever to do so.

Put it all together and Jackson is the first player in franchise history to record consecutive games with both 100-plus receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns. He is one of only three players in team history to have multiple games with 100-yards and two receiving touchdowns in their entire careers, joining Bruce Hill and Keyshawn Johnson.

The Buccaneers went for it on fourth down three times in the Georgia Dome on Sunday, and converted all three. That equals the most fourth-down conversions the team has ever had in a single game; it had been accomplished three other times. The only other time the Buccaneers went three-for-three in fourth-down conversions in a single game was at New Orleans on Dec. 1, 2002.

One of the most unusual streaks in team history rolled right along on Sunday when the Buccaneers lost one fumble and then later recovered a fumble by the Falcons. With no other turnovers on the day committed by either team, that means the Bucs finished with an equal turnover ratio for the sixth straight time this season. To get an idea of how unusual that us, the Bucs had never before had even three straight games with an exactly even turnover ratio.

Tampa Bay's defense allowed Atlanta to record just 18 rushing yards on 18 attempts Sunday, an average of 1.0 yards per carry. That marks the sixth-lowest single-game rushing total ever given up by the Buccaneers and equals the fourth-lowest single-game rushing average the team has ever allowed.

After Sunday's game, Head Coach Greg Schiano remarked that the box score included some "unusual statistics" for a team that did not come out on the winning side, and he wasn't kidding. In addition to the above numbers regarding the Bucs' rushing defense, the team also had a time of possession of 37:49, the 24th-best single-game mark in franchise history, and the 17th-best in games that did not go into overtime. Of the top 25 time-of-possession games in franchise history (including overtime games), the Bucs have now won all but three of them. Thus, Sunday's game marked the third-best time-of-possession mark ever for the Buccaneers in a loss.

On the other hand, there has been much less of a correlation between great games for the run defense and victories in Buccaneer history. Of the top 25 games on the Bucs' yards-allowed-per-rush chart, the team has now lost nine of them, including five of the top 10. The fortunes are a little better on the rushing yards allowed chart, where the Bucs have lost only six of the top 25 games.